New $30m state health laboratory under construction in Colchester

Officials herald replacement of current facility built in 1952

Gov. Peter Shumlin joined leaders from the University of Vermont to herald the start of construction on a state-of-the-art laboratory complex for the state health department.

The $30 million two-story complex is expected to open in October, 2014 -- replacing the current lab on Colchester Avenue in Burlington which is among the oldest state labs in the nation.

"This costs a lot of money but new buildings always do," Shumlin said of the project. "We really had no choice."

The current facility, which opened in 1952, has hallways jammed with file cabinets and supplies. Lab director Mary Celotti showed us the room where animal carcasses are tested for rabies and other diseases, and water labs which all lack adequate ventilation and other utilities.

"We try to make due with space we have," Celotti said. "But it's time."

Dr. Harry Chen, Vermont's Commissioner of Health, said relief is on the way, Employees who have been waiting for more than a decade for the new facility to be approved are charged with evaluating a broad range of risks to public health.

"When we're faced with threats to public health, from clean water, to white powder, or a potential nuclear leak at Vermont Yankee -- all those things require the science and scientists at the health lab to establish the information we need to protect the public health," Chen said.

"This is a very happy day for Vermont," said UVM President Tom Sullivan during brief remarks interrupted by rain. Sullivan and others noted the joint venture the new project represents.

The new health lab will be physically connected to UVM Medical College facilities next door.

Chen said that will provide "surge capacity" and extra staff support in case of a major incident.

State lawmakers allocated a portion of the new lab construction costs for each of the last five years.